There are 99 comments on the
Daily Breeze
story from Sep 25, 2009, titled Gardena and San Pedro schools are high on takeover list.
In it, Daily Breeze reports that:

Gardena and San Pedro high schools - two of the lowest-performing schools in the South Bay - could be taken over by independent operators next year under a Los Angeles Unified reform plan, district officials said Friday.

You are right!! Just an example of what "heh, heh, that's LAUSD" said about Gardena administrators not caring about Gardena High School...To the Torrance Mom:

It helps if they send the kids that have parents that live in the local community! YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT PARENTAL INVOLEMENT, but even parents down't care if the place is outside of their community and they "think" the administration is against them and THEIR kids. LOCAL SCHOOLS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY ONLY!!! They are building enough schools that only Carson kids should go to Carson, Gardena kids should go to Gardena, and Lomita kids should go to Narbonne!

To Letting People Know:Your comments are exactly why the citizens of Gardena,(probably Carson and Lomita) need to break away from LAUSD! I remember receiving voter pamphlets about YOUR Lansing guy...Director of the SAN PEDRO boy's and girl's club.Like I said before...the present South Bay representative, Dr. V, and YOUR Lansing,#$%& up Gardena H.S., Carson H.S., Peary Jr., Carnegie, Henry Clay Jr., others, outside of the SAN PEDRO area, but these two didn't care for the kids whose parents didn't vote in any LOS ANGELES/SAN PEDRO election because they were looking to advance into other offices (council, commissions, assembly, state senatorial, etc.),but the voters in these cities didn't have any say in any LOS ANGELES/SAN PEDRO election!I have to say your right about the schools need to be the centers of THEIR community, not some OUTSIDE interests! Carson, Gardena, and Lomita need to break away from LAUSD and LOS ANGELES/SAN PEDRO!

If you look into he case of Mike Lansing, he went back to run the Boys and Girls Club rather than further political office. He is a community guy and has the kids concerns at heart. His area stretched to South LA, and did a lot for Clay, Pearry and such. I am a San Pedro native and have lived in town my entire life. So please research first and then speak. LAUSD is too big and needs to be broken up. San Pedro wants no part of LAUSD so quit bunching them in with everyone else. Also, San Pedro receives a lot of O.T students from Pearry in their Middle Schools and at SPHS.

LAstly, it is those individuals fault who did not vote in the elections. There is no excuse for that except laziness or a criminal record.

<quoted text>So that still leaves 75% of the blame with San Pedro kids, right?My kid goes to Narbonne, which buses in more kids, and is doing much better academically than SPHS (not good enough, but better). And this is despite the SP centric board members.Don't know what the problem is at SPHS, but hope it can be sorted out. The kids need a solution to be found. And charters have not proven to be the answer yet.

One of the large problems with SPHS is there are a large number of discipline transfer students. In addition to this, there are older teachers who are not as effective, and a school board who cares too much about downtown and the Valley to make repairs, fix and construct new buildings, and also a district too afraid to put the foot down and kick out the loser gang banger trash.

You make my point by your response. First I did research it, but if you have been reading my posts then you should know that we, Carson, Gardena, Lomita, don't want and should not be a part of LAUSD either...not jus SAN PEDRO!Second, The fact that you emphasize your residency of the SAN PEDRO area and YOUR KNOWLEDGE of Mr. Lansing, a SAN PEDRO worker, his connection to SAN PEDRO, your obvious admiration for his work with SAN PEDRO kids and the fact that YOU, a SAN PEDRO resident, do not want anything to do with LAUSD isn't any different than these three cities, except you BELONG to LOS ANGELES. Also, the VALLEY has been trying for years to break away from LAUSD and the city of LOS ANGELES.Third, it was under his watch, LANSING,(Romer was super. then Brewer comes in as super.)that many of the schools I mentioned in the previous post went from bad to #$%&! You might think he did a good job for SAN PEDRO schools and SAN PEDRO kids, but for those other three INDEPENDENT cities he did absolutely NOTHING for their schools!Fourth, as for Opportunity Transfers, you say you got many of them from our area, well we also received the kids from your area as well. As far as OT transfers go each school has to reciprocate in kind for the kid being transfered. You received a "troubled" kid from us...well we received a "troubled" kid from your school too.Lastly, I do agree with your comment about not voting, but I hope your not saying that WE don't vote...we do.

Several people mentioned the "bussed" students. The only bussed students are the magnet students, and they are doing well at SPHS.

No there are more than the Magnet Students. I can guarantee you that there are not 4000+ High School students in San Pedro. Also, forget those bussed in kids, they do not live in San Pedro! Send them back to their own school

To Letting People KnowYou make my point by your response.First I did research it, but if you have been reading my posts then you should know that we, Carson, Gardena, Lomita, don't want and should not be a part of LAUSD either...not jus SAN PEDRO!Second, The fact that you emphasize your residency of the SAN PEDRO area and YOUR KNOWLEDGE of Mr. Lansing, a SAN PEDRO worker, his connection to SAN PEDRO, your obvious admiration for his work with SAN PEDRO kids and the fact that YOU, a SAN PEDRO resident, do not want anything to do with LAUSD isn't any different than these three cities, except you BELONG to LOS ANGELES. Also, the VALLEY has been trying for years to break away from LAUSD and the city of LOS ANGELES.Third, it was under his watch, LANSING,(Romer was super. then Brewer comes in as super.)that many of the schools I mentioned in the previous post went from bad to #$%&! You might think he did a good job for SAN PEDRO schools and SAN PEDRO kids, but for those other three INDEPENDENT cities he did absolutely NOTHING for their schools!Fourth, as for Opportunity Transfers, you say you got many of them from our area, well we also received the kids from your area as well. As far as OT transfers go each school has to reciprocate in kind for the kid being transfered. You received a "troubled" kid from us...well we received a "troubled" kid from your school too.Lastly, I do agree with your comment about not voting, but I hope your not saying that WE don't vote...we do.

Do you not think I understand the OT system. Man you really are an imbecile then. Yes, what the school does is they then revoke the OT when the student gets there and send him back to his home school. I know how the system works dummy.

Now look, ever since I was little Gardena has only had some bright spots. It has always been to close to South Central and that as trickled over. Look if I lived in Torrance, mostly North Torrance, I would not want my kids to go to North Torrance school cause it is too close to Gardena. The city has a bad rap for trouble and violence. End of story. So a person favors their home district or area. Big freaking deal. The guys mind is on the right path so you should be thanking him and get others to follow his example.

Carson High, Pearry, Gardena High and so forth have never been the cream of the crop. Pedro for years was ranked higher than those schools. So face the truth and cry somewhere else. Gardena needs to be taken over!!!

In terms of federal policy, I would start with providing financial incentives to schools with strong intervention programs at the most critical junctures -- third and fourth grade, when students are not just learning to read but reading to learn, to analyze expository text for main idea and details. Students reading below grade level in the elementary school years face tremendous challenges as they move through elementary, middle, and high school forever behind in their reading skills. Why not give money to schools adopting innovative intervention programs to address the biggest predictor of failure - inability to read with fluency and comprehension early on.In addition, I would focus financial resources on 9th grade. As a veteran high school teacher and literacy coach, I am aware that most students who drop out of high school do so during or after 9th grade, most likely convinced they will only continue to fail. We need smaller classes for those at highest risk of dropping out; certainly we need more one-on-one mentoring or even small group teacher-student or counselor-student mentoring. Ninth grade is critical, as students who drop out are more likely to end up incarcerated and we know what that costs in California -$48,000 per year vs.$8,000 to educate in a public school.(Just think if we bumped up the $8,000 figure to encompass state-of-the art technology a computer for every student.)I think offering high schools incentives to organize thematically-based small learning schools focused on real-world applications (media, business, sustainability, etc.) and skills would be another option, as data supports the success of small learning communities in boosting student achievement. Students are not going to class because they do not see enough of a connection between what they are learning in class and what they will need to survive in the world.I understand the temptation to tie financial support to higher test scores but I wonder if that's more of what doesn't work -- assigning, rather than teaching, setting the bar rather than supporting schools to meet the bar. The record of charter schools is not consistent, so we cannot look to the private sector for salvation in educational practice. We must reaffirm our commitment to world-class public education by promoting best practices within all schools and providing financial incentives for schools to adopt those best practices, be they intervention classes, mentoring, state-of-the-art technology or small learning communities that personalize education for youth yearning for meaning.Rather than doing more of the same, staying with No Child Left Behind teacher-driven testing (which students do not buy into), why not rethink education in America, beginning with town halls that invite ideas from the community: What would you like to see in our schools? Engaging all stakeholders -- students, parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders - would be a good place to start a new initiative: Education for Meaning & Empowerment.

Take San Pedro High first.... anybody.. the school needs serious help all around! The winner will eventually inherit South Regional High School #15 by 2012... which is set be the "greenest" school in LA and a cherry picked student body of magnet students (basically non-San pedro students). LAUSD is currently investing $104.2 million to build for only 500 students -- and let the students for the new school come from San Pedro!

Take San Pedro High first.... anybody.. the school needs serious help all around! The winner will eventually inherit South Regional High School #15 by 2012... which is set be the "greenest" school in LA and a cherry picked student body of magnet students (basically non-San pedro students). LAUSD is currently investing $104.2 million to build for only 500 students -- and let the students for the new school come from San Pedro!More information: http://srhs15.blogspot.com/

Actually, it would all be students from San Pedro. What you need to realize is that much of the problem at SPHS is the lowlife loser gang banger students that are bussed in. Once that policy ends, and they stay at Fremont, Jefferson, Carson, Gardena, or Crenshaw then the area will have a better school.

You can help some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time, so if you offer help and it is not accepted, then you have done your part. We as a society know what has to be done. We try and we try to share our knowledge with our youngsters, but if they are not in a receptive mode, then it is upon them to gain the necessary knowledge that it takes to be successful in life.In a supressed area such as Gardena and San Pedro, there is little for the young people who live there to aspire to, thus poor attendance, poor grades, and poor attitude. None of these qualities serve to inspire our children to a higher degree of education.The removal of educational funds only serve to exacerbate the situation. Good eduction depends upon good and strong funding. If we the public fail to fund, then the end result will be failing students and drop-outs as well.

it is not the students that cause trouble or depressed area as you call it, it is kids from other ears.

Why do you think only three bids were made for Gardena...the "charter" people don't want to be forced to take the "undesirables" from any area either. I agree that most of the unwanteds come from other areas, but as long as the Carson, Lomita parents believe that LAUSD is looking out for their kids (specifically Gardena, Carson, Lomita... independent cities from Los Angeles city) they, the Board of Education, will trash the schools in these three cities because they don't have to worry about not moving up in office (Los Angeles city council, comissions, etc.)because the electorate from those three cities doesn't pick for these political bodies. You have to break away from L.A.,(via LAUSD)and form your own separate school district! You will still have "bad" kids, but at least you have control over your own schools, not controlled by a bunch of L.A. mayor allies.

I see no connection between Mexican schools and American schools. California schools are just as bad as schools from any other state in the nation.(That is if you are comparing schools that take in students from low income families.)

R U Serious wrote:

Who has been running these schools while they were going down the tubes? This is an absolute disgrace. I suppose it mirrors schools in Mexico.

"losers" You make yourself look like a looser with your unfounded comment based on a stereotypical assumption (fact is: almost one half of Gardena students are African American)that all hispanic kids speak Spanish. I'm a teacher at Gardena and believe me, there is a small number of hispanic students that speak Spanish at home (even those whose parents don't speak English). I know that because I'm a Spanish teacher at Gardena. I have been for five years now. For you to blame low scores on the assumption that kids from Spanish speaking households don't do well because of their home language is ridiculous. Just as ridiculous is the assumption that "most hispanics don't care about education". You have no idea what really goes on. But, I guess the blaming game is the easiest way to go for many such as you. That is why our schools are so bad. Nobody wants to take responsability for the role they play in society. Why don't you go to one of these schools and volunteer. I bet you that you will find great kids that will admire you for showing that you care.

losers wrote:

Spanish as a first language in the home doesn't help. How can the parents teach their kids if they can't comprehend the english vocabulary. Stop appeasing the aclu and start ENGLISH in the home... or basically, most hispanics especially low income don't care about education - too busy making a living and depending on the schools to do it.

I agree that LAUSD is too big and it needs to be broken up. If you look at where the distinguished schools are, most are in smaller school districts. Most schools in LAUSD are lousy and no one has any solutions to improve them. Bussing students to other schools is ridicules and only cause strain on other communities....San Pedro for one (so I hear).To the Gardena teacher, please don't defend the very same kids who don't give a crap about doing well in school; that's the reason why the school YOU teach at is being considered for a take over!!!I live in Gardena and my wife and I would never send our kids to Peary or Gardena High. Too many bad elements and parents who don't care about how their kids do in school. It's bad reputation has been well known ever since we were kids. That's why my wife and I went to school elsewhere as kids, and today most of my neighbors sends their kids elsewhere as well; private schools or other school districts!!

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